Reading · C2 · Text 26

Küste

58 words1 min read100% known at C2

Eine Küste ist die Grenze zwischen Meer und festem Land.

A coast is the boundary between the sea and solid land.

Flüsse und Seen haben keine Küste sondern ein Ufer.

Rivers and lakes do not have a coast but a shore.

Das machen die Wellen oder auch ein Sturm.

The waves or a storm do that.

Es soll nicht zu viel Land an das Meer verloren gehen.

Not too much land should be lost to the sea.

Sonst würde das Meer viel Erde weg-spülen.

Otherwise, the sea would wash away a lot of earth.

Bei einer Steil-Küste trifft das Meer sofort auf das Fest-Land.

In the case of a steep coast, the sea immediately meets the mainland.

15 words above C2

coast, shoreline plural: Küsten coast B1/ˈkʏstə/
border, boundary plural: Grenzen border; limit; frontier B1/ˈɡrɛn.t͡sə/
solid, firm feast, celebration, festival, party; firm; compact; hard; firm; fixed; rigid A2/fɛst/
land (as opposed to sea) plural: Länder or Lande (in this sense, usually singular) country (territory of a nation); state, province (political division of a federation retaining a notable degree of autonomy); land (real estate or… A1/lant/
Flüsse← der Fluss
rivers singular: Fluss; plural: Flüsse river; flow A1/flʊs/
Seen← der See
lakes singular: See; plural: Seen lake; sea, ocean; sea, sea condition, swell A1/zeː/
bank, shore (of a river or lake) plural: Ufer (same form) shore, shoreline; bank B1/ˈuːfəʁ/
Wellen← die Welle
waves singular: Welle wave (of water); wave, curve, anything wave-shaped (e.g. hair); shaft (mechanical component) B2/ˈvɛlə/
storm plural: Stürme A strong, blustery wind; gust; gale; squall; storm, tempest; storm, rush, attack B1/ʃtʊrm/
verloren← verlieren
lost (past participle) irregular: verliert, verlor, hat verloren to lose (something, or a game); to shed; to trail away, to fade away A2[fɛɐ̯ˈliːʁən]
weg-spülen← wegspülen
to wash away separable verb: spült weg, spülte weg, hat weggespült
Steil-Küste← die Steilküste
steep coast, cliff coast compound of steil (steep) and Küste; plural: Steilküsten
trifft← treffen
meets, hits irregular: trifft, traf, hat getroffen to meet; to encounter; to hit; to strike; to affect; to concern A1/ˈtʁɛfən/
immediately immediately, at once A1/zoˈfɔʁt/
Fest-Land← das Festland
mainland, continent compound of fest and Land; no plural mainland (the main landmass of a country or continent); dry land, solid ground C1/ˈfɛstˌlant/

Grammar in this text

Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) for hypothetical statements

Sonst würde das Meer viel Erde weg-spülen.

The verb 'würde' + infinitive expresses a hypothetical consequence, often used with 'sonst' (otherwise).

Infinitive with 'zu' after 'brauchen'

Es soll nicht zu viel Land an das Meer verloren gehen.

The construction 'soll + nicht + zu viel' is a modal verb phrase; note the infinitive 'gehen' at the end of the clause.

Separable verb in infinitive with 'zu'

Sonst würde das Meer viel Erde weg-spülen.

The separable verb 'wegspülen' appears as an infinitive with the prefix 'weg-' separated from the base 'spülen'.

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Text from Küste — Klexikon, used under CC BY-SA 4.0. See sources.

Translation, glossary and grammar notes are machine-generated and inherit the same licence.